Cavendish's switch to the track

Columbia-Highroad's sprinter Mark Cavendish intends to interrupt his road campaign and compete in the Track World Championships at the end of March. The Worlds are held in Pruskow, Poland.

"I've always enjoyed racing on the track. I believe the big advantage of continuing to do some track racing is that it helps develop my leg speed and can help me reach my road racing goals," Cavendish said. "I am very focused on my goals on the road with Columbia-Highroad. All my thoughts at the moment are on Milano-Sanremo. Only after that will I start thinking about the World Championships."

Columbia-Highroad Team Manager Rolf Aldag supports the idea. "It is all about leg speed. Cav is the fastest road sprinter because he has that extra speed. The track offers a good opportunity to work on this and keep him on a high level of performance," Aldag said.

"He has proven before that he is competitive on the track [Cavendish is current World Madison Champion] and can adjust to the track very quickly. We support his decision to race on the track as we have done with many of our athletes, including the four athletes that participated in track events at the Olympic Games in Beijing," said Aldag.